Brian Johnson has a permanent place in San Francisco baseball lore for his 12th-inning home run that beat the Dodgers in a mid-September game in 1997 and propelled the Giants to their first National League West title in eight years.

Johnson is still contributing. In fact, he is part of the reason outfielder Gregor Blanco is a Giant.

Blanco came up with Atlanta and was traded twice in nine months, first to Kansas City and then Washington. Johnson, now a major-league scout for the Giants, saw Blanco play in Triple-A early in 2011 and sent the front office an intriguing report.

"We saw a guy who had a low batting average and a high on-base percentage," said Bobby Evans, the Giants' vice president of baseball operations.

The club knew why the batting average was around the Mendoza Line. Blanco had bone spurs in his wrist, which he had removed midway through the 2011 season. He was done for the year. On Nov. 2, the Nationals made him a free agent.

The Giants, short on outfielders, began negotiations with Blanco's agent. For a player coming off surgery, his career in the dumps, money is not the coin of the realm, but rather a chance to open some eyes come February and March.

Several big-league clubs sought to sign Blanco to a minor-league contract. The Giants had to persuade him they were a good landing spot because their system was short of outfielders.

Front-office officials personally called Blanco in Venezuela. Hitting coach Hensley Meulens worked on Blanco in person. Meulens was the hitting coach of the Bravos de Margarita club. Blanco was playing for the Tiburones de la Guaira.

"I told him he has speed and he knows how to work a count," Meulens said. "We needed players who could do that. We told him he'd have a good opportunity."

Blanco narrowed his choices to the Giants and Marlins and picked San Francisco, signing a minor-league deal Nov. 19, 17 days after the Nationals cut him loose and early in the Venezuelan season. He would win the league's Most Valuable Player award.

Oddly enough, Blanco did not aspire to pinch-hit for the Giants on Opening Day or start a game in the first series. When he signed, he set his sights on Fresno.

"This was a bigger opportunity here for me to go down and play every day at the Triple-A level," Blanco said. "They were more excited to sign me. My agent told me they were really interested. I just said to myself, let's do it."

Though Blanco was thinking Fresno, Giants officials hoped Blanco would show enough in spring training to win the final outfield job. Blanco went above and beyond, hitting .333 and stealing 13 bases in 14 chances. He also led the Giants with eight walks and showed a little pop with four doubles and a home run.

Manager Bruce Bochy has not been shy about playing Blanco, who pinch-hit in the first two games of the season and started the second two, once in center field and once in right.

Blanco singled in his first at-bat on Opening Day. Since then, he is 1-for-10 with four strikeouts.

"He's an exciting player," Bochy said. "He's a nice weapon to have on the bench, and when you start him, you can lead him off. I'm going to try to use him as much as I can, off the bench, double-switches, pinch-hitting and starting.

"He's a great acquisition for us. He's going to create a lot of interest."